


#supergays #avengergate

by AgeOfAlejandro



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers - All Fandoms
Genre: Biphobia, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Cultural References, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Misogyny, Twitter, biphobic language, blogosphere, brief violent hate speech, misogynistic language, talk radio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2013-05-22
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:58:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfAlejandro/pseuds/AgeOfAlejandro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><strong>Sweetie Sarah </strong><em>@sweetsweetsarah</em><br/>OMG! Captain America & Iron Man are so cute! pic.twitter.com/Cuo1823 #cute #avengers #gay #captainamerica #ironman</p><p>And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how Steve and Tony are outed. Web 2.0 America reacts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For a [prompt on Avengerkink](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/6565.html?view=13136037#t13136037):
> 
> After a battle Steve and Tony make out in an alley, just glad to be alive, and their make-out session ends up all over the Internet. How does the American public react to Captain America in a gay relationship with Iron Man? Go the modern media route: discussions on Internet message boards, TV and radio talk shows, protestors outside Stark Tower.
> 
> +10=Bonus points for scenes showing the Avengers closing ranks around Steve and Tony. Certain S.H.I.E.L.D. agents do, too (I’m looking at you, Phil). What’s Fury’s reaction?
> 
> +100=Bonus points if a right-wing organization who loudly and proudly previously supported Captain America turns on him.
> 
> +1000=Bonus points for reactions during the first Avengers public appearance since Steve and Tony were outed. 
> 
>  
> 
>  **Series trigger warnings:** homophobic language, some brief violent hate speech, homophobia in general, biphobia, misogyny

**Sweetie Sarah** _@sweetsweetsarah_  
OMG! Captain America  & Iron Man are so cute! pic.twitter.com/Cuo1823 #cute #avengers #gay #captainamerica #ironman  
  
 **Louis Peitzman** _@LouisPeitzman_  
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! pic.twitter.com/Cuo1823 #avengers #tonystark #captainamerica #ironman #supergays  
  
 **billy6393** _@billy6393_  
OMG CAPTIAN AMERICA'S A FAG! @captsrogers @theoneandonlytony GOD HATES U FAGS GO T OHELL  
  
 **Wil Wheaton** _@wilw_  
Aww, lookit. pic.twitter.com/Cuo1823 #ironman #avengers #captainamerica  
  
 **Jack McCoy** _@therealjmccoy_  
@billy6393 Learn2English. I bet Jesus hates it when you mangle English. #somesuperheoresaregay #getoverit #captainamerica #ironman  
  
 **billy6393** _@billy6393_  
BET UR A FAG 2, @therealmccoy GOT SUM SKULLS 2 CRUSH  
  
 **Jack McCoy** _@therealjmccoy_  
@billy6393 Nah, dude. Love me some boobies. I'm just a cool guy. Also? you're vile. #homophobia #disgusting  
  
 **Laura D** _@laurathedee_  
whelp, there goes my son's avengers toys. no more avengers in my house. #nohomo #avengers  
  
 **jesse** _@jessinator_  
this is going to be _just_ like the Pride oreos. #lolomg #avengers #BOYCOTTALLOFTHETHINGS! #supergays #avengergate #PRIDE  
  
 **Jenna** _@jeeeens_  
why does anyone care that cpt america  & iron man are queer? #supergays #doesntmatter #getoverit #avengergate  
  
 **Patty Robertson** _@patrobertson_  
Can't even call him "Captain America" anymore. America doesn't want homos! Sickening. #disgusting #avengers  
  
 **Clint Barton** _@jumpedupcircuskid_  
Yeah, Cap  & Tony are dating. GET THE FUCK OVER IT. #supergays #avengergate #itstwuluv #likeinPrincessBride #they'relikeButtercupandWesley  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@jumpedupcircuskid, THAT'S INCONCEIVABLE!  
  
 **Black Widow** _@black_widow_  
@dannydeeelight I'm not sure why you think Cap  & Tony's relationship is relevant to their ability to do their job. It isn't.  
  
 **Dr. Bruce Banner** _@nottheotherguy_  
uh, why does anyone care about "#avengergate"? why is this a "-gate"? why does it even have to matter? it is,  & should be, just between them  
  
 **Clint Barton** _@jumpedupcircuskid_  
@theoneandonlytony, Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@jumpedupcircuskid, stop saying that! Also @captsrogers, @black_widow, @nottheotherguy @thor, MOVIE NIGHT. No escaping it this time!  
  
 **Black Widow** _@black_widow_  
@theoneandonlytony Watch me.  
  
 **Cpt. Steve G. Rogers** _@captsrogers_  
Thank you for all the messages of support. :) They've been really encouraging! Tony and I aren't going anywhere, I promise!  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
I'm not sure why anyone thinks they get a say in who Steve or I date. You don't. #ALLOFTHEHOMO #avengergate #DIAFbigots #Im #a #supergay  
  
 **SHIELD** _@SHIELD_  
The Captain  & Iron Man are integral members of the team & were NEVER in danger of being replaced. We support equality! #PRIDE #Avengers  
  
 **Joe Biden** _@thevpjbiden_  
When's the anniversary, @captsrogers  & @theoneandonlytony? I wonder if, because they're both men, if anyone remembers the date at all!  
  
 **THOR** _@thor_  
HOMOSEXUALITY IS UNUSUAL AMONGST MY PEOPLE BUT THE CAPTAIN  & MAN OF IRON ARE A MOST EXCELLENT PAIR THEY HAVE THE BACKING OF THE MIGHTY THOR!


	2. The Sean Hannity Show!

**Hannity:** Where are you from, Jesse?

 **Jesse:** Phoenix.

 **H:** Oh, I like Phoenix.

 **J:** It's a beautiful city, yeah. I just wanted to call in about Captain America. Tony Stark doesn't surprise me--

 **H:** Yeah, yeah. No surprise there at all.

 **J:** \--I'm so disappointed and disgusted.

 **H:** Me, too, Jesse. I can't believe it!

 **J:** I don't think we should call him "Captain America" anymore. Being gay just isn't American.

 **H:** I agree.

 **J:** More like Captain _[censored]_!

 **H:** _[laughs]_ That sounds about right. Makes you wonder if they can take back the serum! Wasn't he an art student before the war?

 **J:** He was, I believe he was.

 **H:** That should have been a tip off, am I right?

 **J:** You are! I can't believe SHIELD is keeping them both. They aren't fit to be Avengers. It's bad enough they have that commie [censored] on the team, but _[censored]_ aren't heroes.

 **H:** _[laughs]_ Watch your mouth!

 **J:** Sorry! _[laughs]_

 **H:** I gotta agree though. Did his girl during the war - Peggy Carter - know, I wonder? That she was his beard? Or Virgina Potts, for that matter. Anyway, thanks for calling, Jesse!

 **J:** Thank you for taking my call! You're a great American.

 **H:** You, too, Jesse!


	3. PEPPER SMASH!

On "Avengergate"  
 _by Virgina Potts_ | May 23

 

 

Ordinarily, I don't respond to whatever current gossip is surrounding the Avengers and their extended family (among which I still count, Tony's ex-girlfriend or not). Why would I? At best, it feeds the cycle and at worst, it makes the storm harsher. But the way people - or some of you, rather - have responded to Steve and Tony's relationship is sickening enough that I can't keep my mouth shut.  
  
As I write this article, Tony and I are sitting with a sleeping Steve, who was injured today fighting another alien race who would have destroyed and enslaved the planet if the Avengers had not stopped them. Do you want to know what happened, America? He suffered an injury would be fatal for anyone else and _kept going_ because people still needed him. That's the kind of man Steve is.  
  
Steve all but died - and did lose the life he had - for this country and he continues to put his life on the line on a regular basis for your safety, America. He is as perfect as a human can be and he has been fighting under your flag and in your name since 1941 because he believes in what this country can be if it tries.  
He'll deny what I'm about to say and tell you he's just doing his duty, but America, you owe your safety and your freedom to him and his team. He doesn't have to do this. He could hang up his shield and retire to teach art classes on the weekend if he chose to. But he hasn't hung up the shield. He won't. Because he believes in fighting the good fight, and fighting it for the sake of his people. And yet some of you feel the need to try to stop him from being Captain America or, much worse, threaten to kill him because he happens to be in a relationship with another man?  
I am appalled, America.  
  
  
As a side note to Mr. Hannity and Jesse in Phoenix, I knew Tony was bisexual long before he and I got together and, no, I was not his beard. For three years, Tony looked at me like he looks at Steve now and there is no way that could be anything other than love. Steve mourned Peggy for a year or so after he woke up - not the actions of a man who used her as a beard.


	4. Fictional Smackdown of Dan Savage

Dan Savage on Supergays   
_Jack Zapp_ | May 24

 

For anyone new to queerdom or Dan Savage, he's a ridiculous biphobe (who says he's not a biphobe, but has no idea what bi invisibility is and pretty much dismisses it as an orientation because for some people, it's a stopping point on the way to accepting themselves or publicly acknowledging that they're gay). And, as a gay writer, he felt he had to comment on the Supergays/Avengergate "controversy". I can't fault him for that. That's what half of _this_ post is. But I do fault him for his unsurprising commentary on their bisexuality.

> I've actually been wondering about Cap and Tony for a while. Go google pictures of them together and try tell me they don't scream "closeted relationship" to you. The photo of them kissing in that alleyway was just confirmation of what I already suspected.  
> But I don't really believe them when they say they're bisexual.
> 
>  
> 
> Cap is relatively young, in terms of the number of years he's been actually conscious for, and comes from a time when it was flat out illegal to be gay. He's probably working through some internalized stigma, although that he's in a relationship with another man and willing to acknowledge it says he's probably most of the way through it. He'll come out as gay before very long, I think, like many young gay men do.   
> Rumors about Tony Stark have been floating in the gay community for years and the way he's gone through women like Kleenex in the past is pretty telling. With his position as the head of an important arms manufacturer for the US military (a notoriously homophobic organization) and a king of the business world (also notoriously homophobic), he could little afford to come out and I suspect lived a heterosexual playboy lifestyle to hide his homosexuality.

I don't really understand the why the gay community seem to feel like we have to erase or deny the fact that bisexuals _exist_. They're a real orientation, just like homosexuality. Heterosexuals have spent centuries denying that homosexuality exists and/or punishing us when they caught us. They've spent decades telling us we're confused or making things up or that this is a _choice_ we made. We aren't and it isn't. So why are we trying to do the same thing to the bi community?

 

ANYWAY, while I don't exactly see them marching in a pride parade, I'm interested to see if Cap and Tony get involved with the queer community now. They're certainly not obligated to but I mean, wow. Iron Man and the legendary Captain America! Even if they don't, just being openly queer means a lot, as I'm sure I don't have to explain (I consider them to be open about it even though they were outed by someone else, since they've acknowledged it).


	5. George Takei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY I HAS INTERNETS.

  
  I agree!

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/13/2012: a fellow trans* person made a good point that I should have included (because I have a tendency to assume people can follow my train of thought, and my intention was to have this be a case of a person who is trying to include everyone failing; that happens sometimes): separating "transgender" from man/woman is not really the way to do it. A trans* dude is a dude. A trans* gal is a gal. Your gender doesn't really have anything to do with your junk. If it were written by someone who understood gender better, it might have read something like "man, woman, non-binary."


	6. Gabe versus Radio Host: FIGHT!

**Host:** And we have our very own Gabe Jones, a local and former member of Rogers's team, the Howling Commandos, calling in.

 **Jones:** Thanks for taking my call.

 **H:** You're very welcome! It's not often we get to hear from a war hero.

 **J:** _[laughs]_ Oh, you hear from Cap often enough.

 **H:** Does he count? I'm not sure he does!

 **J:** That's what I called to talk about, yes.

 **H:** Oh, good, okay. So what do you think?

 **J:** About Cap being gay?

 **H:** Yeah, yeah. Him being gay. How do you feel, knowing that you worked with him?

 **J:** I'm fine with it. Why wouldn't I be? Cap's an amazing man and an amazing leader. That he fell in love with another man doesn't mean anything because it's not _important_.

 **H:** It's n--

 **J:** It's not. Not at all. What mattered, and what matters now, is what kind of person he is and how good he is at his job. He's one of a kind and I'll be damned if he wasn't one of the most efficient, effective,  _best_ men I ever did work with. I always used to tell my kids, when they were little and facing a moral problem, "what would Cap do?"

 **H:** And that he's a _[censored]_ doesn't make you regret that?

 **J:** Not in the least and it never steered them wrong. Oh, and Cap counts as a war hero. He'll _always_ count as a war hero, whether or not slur-using bigots like you think he does. _[hangs up]_

 **H:** _[pause]_ And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Gabriel Jones. We'll be back in after the break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edges in*  
> So, um, I'm not sure _when_ I'll be able to finish this. I've decided to pursue a particular career that will require me to take an incredibly competitive test and I have a _lot_ to learn between now and the test date (like, what the fuck have I ever needed to know about finance and management before? I'm a damned history major for pete's sake). I'm going to try to get a couple hours a week of writing in, but I make no promises that #supergays will get regular attention. D:


	7. Gawker Gossip Roundup!

Gossip Roundup: SUPERGAYS

  
_Laura James_ **|** June 1

 

Honestly, that's the best nickname for it. Infinitely funnier and less annoying than "Avengergate" (the Hulk's right - whose idea was it to add -gate to every scandal anyway?)

At 2:38 eastern time on May 20, twitter user Sweetie Sarah posted this picture of the Star Spangled Man with a Plan and Tony Stark making out in an alleyway in Queens after fighting off giant, vicious ladybugs (how is this our life, America?).

They look pretty into it and we at Gawker are wondering, how did we miss this? We feel like there should have been some sort of  _sign_ that a new superpowered power couple was on the horizon!

 

The internet, as it is wont,  _exploded_ after that, with everyone from Wil Wheton and the Vice President commenting on it on Twitter, to Sean Hannity and other scummy Republicans calling for Captain Rogers to be stripped of the name "Captain America", to Stephen Colbert's glorious rip on it.

Here's the link roundup!

Twitter  
Republican talking heads \- Bonus: Gabe Jones and Jim Morita, old war buddies of Cap's, calling into their local radio stations (Morita's is particularly worth listening to)  
Pepper Potts's scathing reply to gossip  
Dan Savage's obnoxious commentary  
Jack Zapp's reply to Savage  
Colbert  
Stewart  
Facebook hate  
Facebook love


	8. First Public Appearance

**Martha** _@mothrastewart_  
#supergays sighting! 18th  & west! pic.twitter.com/37JSUGj78  
  
 **Sound and the Furry** _@zounds_  
people still care about #supergays? leave them alone! GOD #thisiswhywecanthavenicethings  
  
 **Jack Jack** - _@jackjack92_  
I wonder if they'll get married? NY allows it, after all #getmarriedpls  
  
 **Stew Norman** _@s_norman27_  
never thought I'd see the day! so proud they can do this! #supergays #PRIDE  
  
 **Pat Frank** _@p_frankie9_  
still faggots #supergays #nohomo  
  
 **DancingDaisy** _@dancing_daisy_  
How so cute? pic.twitter.com/45DaF543J #supergays #PRIDE  
  
 **gawdzilla** _@gawdzilla_rawr_  
being honest after being outed them made me respect @captsrogers  & @theoneandonlytony evn more. Thanks for ur courage! it helped me come out  
  
 **Capt Steve G. Rogers** _@captsrogers_  
@gawdzilla_rawr Tony  & I are glad we could help you be brave enough to tell them!  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@gawdzilla_rawr yeah, we're really glad we were able to give you that extra boost. We know how hard it can be to come out  
  
 **Tea &Tea&Tea** _@teaX3_  
@capsrogers  & @theoneandonlytony would you have come out on your own?  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@teaX3 we hadn't really discussed that yet. But it's pretty irrelevant, isn't it? We're out now,  & that's okay with us.  
  
 **Capt Steve G. Rogers** _@captsrogers_  
@teaX3 I don't honestly know. Like Tony said, we never talked about it. Although we were considering doing a #PSA of some sort, so maybe?  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
A #PSA because @ItGetsBetter is run by a biphobe, and fuck that noise.  
  
 **Capt Steve G. Rogers** _@captsrogers_  
it is disheartening to see the LG/B divide. Maybe if it weren't there, the statistics would be less frightening.  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
call me a cynic if you want, @captsrogers, but I don't see that going away anytime soon.  
  
 **Black Widow** _@black_widow_  
@CaptSRogers @theoneandonlytony Put down your phones before I take them away from you.  
  
 **Jorge Carranza** _@carranzaFTW_  
#supergays and table manners, round one: FIGHT!  
  
 **Virgina Potts** _@v_potts_  
@black_widow, I've been trying to get that through @theoneandonlytony's head since he made the probably first smart phone. Good luck to you.  
  
 **Black Widow** _@black_widow_  
@v_potts Did you try a rolled up newspaper?  
  
 **Virgina Potts** _@v_potts_  
@black_widow No. Why didn't I think of that?  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@black_widow hypocrite!  
  
 **Anthony Stark** _@theoneandonlytony_  
@v_potts you love me too much to try the rolled up newspaper trick  
  
 **Clint Barton** _@jumpedupcircuskid_  
I don't know where @black_widow got that newspaper, but I am impressed. pic.twitter.com/DT35g68N

 

 


End file.
